On March 11, 2018, the Allen Cheer & Dance team competed at Region VI conference competition at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina. Members competed against 11 other community colleges across the state in a number of different divisions. The cheer team placed 4th in the Team Division Co-Ed out of six teams, Emma Tourville placed 3rd in a dance solo out of ten competitors, and the Small Co-Ed placed 1st out of two groups in their respected divisions.

To prepare for this competition, the team practiced each of the stunts, pyramids, tumbling and basket-tosses every day to prep their elite skills for this competition. Head coach Chelsea Jackson pushed each of the athletes to be the best they could be.

“Overall, I wanted the team to do their best and show all of their hard work that they have done this season,” Jackson said. “This team is very talented and came in very strong into the competition. My goal was for them to show-off their hard work and that they can hit those routines.”

With this year’s season over, Jackson and members of the teams are working on recruiting new athletes for the next school year. For dance, they have been going to dance showcases to find and recruit athletes and networking with high schools. For cheer, they have hosted open gyms at the Allen campus for potential athletes. There is an open tryout for cheer on April 29 from 2 to 4 p.m. Dance tryouts are still to be determined.*

Freshman Katey Hinds, one of the members of the small co-ed group, plans on potentially continuing her cheer career at Kansas State University, with a tryout at the end of April.

“I definitely loved my experience this year cheering for Allen,” Hinds said. “Coming out of high school, I didn’t think that I wanted to cheer in college but being on the team definitely showed me that I enjoy cheer and it’s something I’m good at. I improved, tried new things, and made new friends on the team.”

Jackson said that she enjoyed working with the athletes and watching them progress throughout the season.

“This team has progressed further than any other past teams I have coach in terms of their overall elite skill ability,” Jackson said. “This team has definitely grown and it’s my first year of full recruits. I think that it’s cool to see that kids that I wanted to recruit have now become my team since its my third year.”

You can check out their Facebook page and each of the performances in the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/AllenCommunityCollegeCheerAndDance/

*At the time of writing this article.